Overview

Survey the application of statistics and mathematics to the sports industry exploring the history of analytics across various sports, understanding the advantages of sports analytics for both on-field performance and off-field business decisions, and examining current research to encourage creative thought of future development.

The course will be organized by sport to ensure a comprehensive exploration of sports analytics. We will start with in-depth studies in Baseball, Basketball, American Football, Hockey, and Soccer. Later in the course, we will branch out according to the diverse interests of the class.

The statistical programming language R will be used to generate visualizations and perform basic modeling.

Textbooks

Required

  • Mathletics (2nd Edition), Winston Et al., 2022, ISBN: 9780691177625 (MATH)

  • Handbook of Statistical Methods and Analyses in Sports, Albert, Glickman, Et al., 2017, ISBN: 9781498737364 (HSMAS)

Optional

  • Analytic Methods in Sports, Severini, 2015, ISBN: 9781482237016 (AMS)

  • Sports Analytics: A Guide for Coaches, Managers, and Other Decision Makers, Alamar, 2013, ISBN: 9780231162920 (SPAN)

  • Practicing Sabermetrics: Putting the Science of Baseball Statistics to Work, Costa et Al., 2009, ISBN: 9780786441778 (PS)

  • Analyzing Baseball Data with R, Marchi and Albert, 2014, ISBN:9781466570238 (ABDR)

  • Sports Math: An Introductory Course in the Mathematics of Sports Science and Sports Analytics, Minton, 2017, ISBN:9781498706261 (SM)

Film Sessions

First Half

Date Lecture Material Reading
JAN 9 Syllabus Survey
JAN 11 Sports Analytics I Slides Ch. 1 SPAN, Web 1, Web 2, Web 3
Web 4, Web 5, Web 6, Web 7, Web 8
JAN 13 Sports Analytics II Slides Ch. 1-7 SPAN, Web 1
JAN 16 MLK Day
JAN 18 Sports Analytics III Slides Web 1, Web 2, Web 3, Web 4, Web 5
JAN 20 Sports Analytics IV Slides Web 1, Web 2, Web 3, Article 1

Second Half

Date Lecture Material Reading

Overtime

Date Lecture Material Reading

Fundamentals of Sports Analytics

In this class, your performance will be graded using three different assignments: gameday speeches (20%), regular season (20%), playoffs (40%), and championship (20%). Except for the regular season, this class is a team sport. For the gameday speeches, playoffs, and the championship, you will be randomly assigned to a team.

Gameday Speeches

Gameday speeches are to be done in teams. Biweekly, I will give you two journal articles from a refereed journal to read and summarize in a 6 slide gameday speech. Which article you read will depend on whether your group number is odd or even.

  • Slide 1: Title of the article, the names of the author(s), and the name(s) of the presenters.

  • Slide 2-3: Summarize the overarching theme of the article(s). Discuss the research goal of the paper in at least 6 bullet points.

  • Slide 4-5: Talk about the methodology. What did the author(s) do to answer their research goal? Discuss the methodology in at least 6 bullet points.

  • Slide 6: What did you like? What did you find confusing? What did you find problematic? What could the author(s) have done better? Give at least 2 positive opinions of the paper and at least 1 negative critique.

On gameday, I will use a random number generator to pick 2 groups (1 odd and 1 even) to present in 3 to 7 minutes. All groups will be graded based on the criteria, but only 2 groups will present. This will be followed by an in-class discussion.

The presentation should be submitted on Canvas before class starts on the due date. Each group should have their own presentation, but needs to be submitted by every member of the group as a pdf. Also, each group member needs to assess the contribution value of the other members of the team on a scale from 0 (Bad) to 3 (Excellent). Fill out the appropriate google form in the section below called Team Sport to turn in your ratings of your group members. Your value will be determined by the average score of the other members in your group.

Gameday speeches are worth a total of 21 points with a minor exception. Consider the following rubric and notice the bonus points for the lucky presenting groups:

Criteria 0 1 2 3
Slide 1 Missing All Components Missing 2 Components Missing 1 Component Followed Directions
Slides 2-3 1-2 Bullet Points 2-3 Bullet Points 4-5 Bullet Points At least 6 Bullet Points
Slides 4-5 1-2 Bullet Points 2-3 Bullet Points 4-5 Bullet Points At least 6 Bullet Points
Slide 6 Not Accomplished No Positives or No Critiques 1 Positive Opinion and 1 Critique 2 Positive Opinions and 1 Critique
Spelling/Grammar >5 Errors 3-5 Errors 1-2 Errors No Errors
Value Bad Okay Good Excellent
Submitted Late On Time
Bonus (Presenting Groups) Not Prepared Prepared (Reading Slides) Semi-Prepared (Mediocre Creativity) Well-Prepared and Creative

And just when you think they are about to break apart, Ducks fly together.

~ Gordon Bombay

Regular Season

The regular season consists of biweekly quizzes on the material presented in class over the previous two weeks. This includes what was taught in lecture, what is in the reading, and what was presented during gameday speeches. You will be given at least 20 minutes to complete the quiz.

There’s two times of year for me: Football season, and waiting for football season.

~ Darius Rucker

Playoffs Round 1

The first round will be a data gathering and summary report. Imagine you are an analyst working for the coach or athlete and want to discover insights that would bring a competitive edge. In a world saturated with data, the way to ensure your analysis is unique and creative is to get the data yourself. To successfully conduct your study, you should follow the steps below:

  1. Decide on What Area of Sports You Would Like to Analyze
    • This Can Be Any Traditional Sport (Baseball, NASCAR, Soccer, Volleyball, Tennis, etc.)
    • This Can Be A More Obscure Sport (Cornhole, Climbing, Drone Racing, etc.)
    • This Can Be A Video Game that Is Played Competitively
    • This Can Be A Board Game that Is Played Competitively
  2. Critically Think About What Questions/Opinions That You or Society Have About the Sport
    • What Statistics or Metrics Can Be Used to Describe Success
    • What Information Contributes to Success
  3. Plan the Study After Discussing the Sport With Your Team
    • Choose the Level at Which to Gather Data (Team, Player, Game, Play/Event, Time, etc.)
    • Choosing Levels at Higher Resolutions Make it Easier to Gather Enough Data
    • Identify at Least 5 Variables You Want to Gather at the Specified Level
    • Variables Can Be All Categorical, All Numeric, or Mixture
  4. Watch or Play the Sport Enough Times to Get a Minimum of 50 Observations (Highly Advise Aiming for More)
    • Depends on the Level at Which You’re Gathering Data
    • Example: If the Level is Game, You Would Need to Watch or Play the Sport at Least 25 Times
    • Example: If the Level is Play/Event, You Would Need to Watch Enough to Gather Data for 25 Plays or Events
    • Example: If the Level is Time (minutes), You Would have to Gather Information for A Minimum of 25 Minutes
  5. As a Team, Track the Data in a Spreadsheet
    • All Data Must Be Recorded in the Same Electronic Spreadsheet (Excel,CSV, etc.)
    • Each Row Should Be a Different Observation According to the Level Selected
    • Can Be Recorded on Paper Separately, But Must Be Compiled Electronically Into a Single Spreadsheet

Your study should be summarized in a paper of 4 to 6 pages. The paper and dataset should be submitted on Canvas before 11:59PM on the due date. Each group should have their own paper and data, but both need to be submitted by every member of the group. Also, each group member needs to assess the contribution value of the other members of the team on a scale from 0 (Bad) to 3 (Excellent). Fill out the appropriate google form in the section below called Team Sport to turn in your ratings of your group members. Your value will be determined by the average score of the other members in your group.

On the first page, you should title your paper and give the names of the team members who contributed. The content of the paper should be organized in the following 3 subsections:

1) Introduction to the Data

In this section, you should discuss three things.

First, you should briefly discuss the sport/game your team selected and the overall purpose of analyzing data for this sport/game. For example, what did you hypothesize or hope to find from studying the sport/game?

Second, you should give a preview of your data showing at least the first 5 rows of your dataset. There should be at least 5 columns for each of the variables you measured on each observation. Give your variables clear names so anyone could understand what you measured, and make the table aesthetically pleasing (rounding, colors, etc.). It is okay to abbreviate variable names (e.g. R/G) if you identify the abbreviations (e.g Runs (R) and Games (G)) somewhere in the document.

Third, you should briefly describe your data. When did you gather your data? Where did you gather your data? How did you gather your data (Watch or Play Game)? What does each observation (i.e. row in data) represent and how many observations do you have? Describe the five variables and how they were measured. I want a clear description of how the data was collected, what role each member on your team played in the gathering of the data, and information about the contents of the raw data.

2) Summary of the Data

In this section, I want a table(s) and two figures summarizing the data. Each table and each figure you give should have a couple sentences describing the information summarized.

The table(s) should be the same style as the table in the introduction (not different colors, fonts, rounding, etc.). The table(s) should efficiently summarize the five variables using popular statistics. If the variable is numeric (continuous or discrete), you should give the minimum, maximum, mean, and standard deviation, at least. If the variable is categorical, you should give the possible values with frequencies (counts) and relative frequencies (%). If you have a combination of categorical and numeric, I advise doing separate tables which will count as a single table. All tables should be formatted similarly.

Then, you should have two figures summarizing relationships between the variables you selected. In each figure, at least 2 variables, should be summarized. Appropriate axis names and scales should be used. Fonts should be large enough to read. These figures should be chosen with a purpose to later describe insights you learned from analyzing the data.

Following all instructions gets you two points. The last point is reserved for creativity, design, and over-achievement. This will be determined by comparing what you do to what the other teams do. I reward you for taking risks that that lead to better results then I require. For example in the table(s), calculating confidence intervals for numeric variables, creating contingency tables, or summarizing numeric variables for different subgroups from categorical variables. For example in the figures, tile, 3D, or map plots showing relationships across multiple variables. Also, I don’t mind if you give more than two figures or put multiple figures together in a grid. If you create a ton of figures, I will grade your two worst figures so make sure each figure is valuable and worth discussing.

3) Insights from the Data

The content in the previous two sections should be used to support two insights. An insight is a deeper understanding you gained about the sport from gathering and summarizing data. The insights should be connected to the purpose you outlined in the “Introduction to the Data” section and defended from the tables/figures in the “Summary of the Data” section. I recommend giving your figures and tables numbers so you can reference them in this section (e.g. Table 1, Figure 2). Write, at least, one paragraph for each insight. What were the two most interesting things you learned from the data? If you don’t reference statistics or figures you created, you will lose two points, at least. To get full credit, I advise supplementing your insights with p-values from appropriate hypothesis tests (t-test, anova, regression, difference in proportions, independence tests, etc.) or provide confidence intervals (means, proportions, etc.). Excellent insights should not be obvious but lead to innovations that would give a decision maker or athlete the competitive edge. Tests for statistical significance are the strongest way to defend your arguments.

Also, in this section, after discussing your insights, you should write, at least, one paragraph where you critique what your group would have done differently. Would you have gathered another variable which could potentially be a confounding variable? Would you have measured a particular variable differently? What other information that you did not gather would have made this study better or have been of use? No study is done perfect and there are always aspects that could be improved. After I read your entire paper, I will take off a point for every single thing that I think you should have done differently that you did not highlight in this section. If there is a criticism that I incorrectly identify because you are extremely vague in the description of your study or in the summary of your insights, then you are at fault. Be very clear in describing all aspects of the data and method of collection in the first 2 sections.

Rubric

The first playoff round is worth a total of 45 points based on the following rubric:

Criteria 0 1 2 3
Title Page Instructions Not Followed Missing Entire Element Missing a Team Member Title+Team Members
Introduction: Purpose Not Innovative or Clearly Described Not Innovative and/or Not Clearly Described Somewhat Innovative and Clearly Described Innovative and Clearly Described
Introduction: Preview Not Attempted Missing Rows or Columns 5 Rows and 5 Columns Outstanding
Introduction: Description Not Attempted Missing Key Information Answers Questions But Poorly Written Addresses All Questions Well
Summary: Table Missing More Than 1 Statistic Missing 1 Statistic Followed Instructions Excellent
Summary: Figure 1 Not Attempted Not 2 Variables or Messy 2 Variables and Clear Excellent
Summary: Figure 2 Not Attempted Not 2 Variables or Messy 2 Variables and Clear Excellent
Summary: Table/Figure Descriptions Not Attempted Missing Important Descriptions Some Descriptions Unclear Everything Clearly Described
Insights: First Insight Not Attempted Mediocre/Weak Reference Summary Section Excellent
Insights: Second Insight Not Attempted Mediocre/Weak Reference Summary Section Excellent
Insights: Done Differently Missing 3 Obvious Things Missing 2 Obvious Things Missing 1 Obvious Thing Got Everything
Instructions Followed Organized Incorrectly Organized Correctly without Section Headings Organized Correctly with Section Headings
Spelling/Grammar >5 Errors 3-5 Errors 1-2 Errors No Errors
Value Bad Okay Good Excellent
Submitted Late or Inadequate Data On Time

I’m not looking for home runs, I’m looking for the playoffs.

~ Sammy Sosa

Playoffs Round 2

People judge you by the way you play in the playoffs.

~ Jaromir Jagr

Championship

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.

~ Jordan

No matter how good one individual is, it takes a whole team to win a championship.

~ King James

Assignment Tracker

Any assignments requiring a deliverable will be submitted via Canvas.

Due Date (Time) Gameday Speeches (GS) Regular Season (RS) Playoffs (P) Championship (C)
JAN 20 (12:20PM) RS1
JAN 27 (12:20PM) GS1 (Odd: Ch. 3 HSMAS)
GS1 (Even: Ch. 4 HSMAS)
FEB 3 (12:20PM) RS2
FEB 10 (12:20PM) GS2 (Odd: Ch. 10 HSMAS)
GS2 (Even: Ch. 12 HSMAS)
FEB 17 (12:20PM) RS3
FEB 24 (12:20PM) GS3 (Odd: Ch. 6 HSMAS)
GS3 (Even: Ch. 8 HSMAS)
MAR 3 (11:59PM) P1
MAR 10 (12:20PM) RS4
MAR 24 (12:20PM) GS4 (Odd: Ch. 13 HSMAS)
GS4 (Even: Ch. 15 HSMAS)
APR 3 (11:59PM) P2
APR 14 (12:20PM) RS5
APR 21 (12:20PM) GS5 (Odd: Ch. 17 HSMAS)
GS5 (Even: Ch. 21 HSMAS)
APR 28 (12:20PM) RS6
MAY 9 (12:00PM) C

Team Sport

Many of the assessments in this course will be done in a teams of 5 or 6 playas randomly chosen. For each team-based assignment, you will be given a different team. This will force you to interact with the majority of the class throughout the semester. After each team-based assignment, you will grade the contribution of your teammates on a scale from 0 to 3, and this will contribute to your overall grade for the given assignment. A decent portion of your final grade will be influenced by this. The following link contains all teams alphabetically: All Teams

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In the table below, you can find your group for each of the specific team-based assignments. Make sure you fill out the value survey before the time the assignment is due on the due date. Do not assess the value of yourself in the survey.

Due Date Assessment Value Survey
JAN 20 GS1 Value for GS1
FEB 3 GS2 Value for GS2
FEB 17 GS3 Value for GS3
MAR 3 P1 Value for P1
MAR 24 GS4 Value for GS4
APR 3 P2 Value for P2
APR 21 GS5 Value for GS5
MAY 9 C Value for C

Results from Playoffs Round 2

This page was last updated on 2023-01-18 14:10:35 Eastern Time by Super Mario.